


Whatever Makes You Happy

by Blownwish



Category: Saiyuki
Genre: F/M, Het, Marriage
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-02-17
Updated: 2014-02-17
Packaged: 2018-01-12 20:05:24
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 771
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1197774
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Blownwish/pseuds/Blownwish
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>She was the perfect wife, but was that good enough?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Whatever Makes You Happy

**Author's Note:**

  * For [laurose8](https://archiveofourown.org/users/laurose8/gifts).



She was the perfect wife. Their house was welcoming, meticulously clean and maintained. Flowers bloomed in the front lawn. Vegetables created a cornucopia in their modest plot in the back. Her kitchen was a treasure trove of dried herbs, jarred and hanging, living ones potted in glass shelving on the window sill. She loved baking meat pies in the afternoon and sitting at her kitchen table, reading, after all her chores were done. To get lost in a book while cooking dinner was paradise.

 

She loved being Hakkai's wife. But she was not so sure he liked it. Not that he would ever be anything but thoughtful and appreciative. There was just something about the expression on his face. Something not quite happy. Not quite right.

 

One day she asked him if there was anything wrong.

 

"No, nothing."

 

"School? Students?" She poured hot water into his tea cup.

 

"Work is fine."

 

She bowed. Just a little. "Is it something I did? The house...?"

 

He bowed back. Just a little. Smiled as she looked up. "You are a good housekeeper."

 

"The food?"

 

"Perfect." He sipped his tea. But then she saw it, that almost-frown.

 

"Why are you unhappy?"

 

"You are nothing like her, Yaone. And sometimes I wish you were." He took a deep breath. "And you don't deserve the comparison. She was... a terrible housewife."

 

"I didn't know."

 

"I don't talk about it. Truth be told, I was unhappy when I met her. She was such a mess, inside and out, but something about fixing that mess made me happy."

 

"Do you think I can make you happy?" The tiles were so clean. Not a spec of dirt was on them.

 

"I think so."

 

  + +

 

The house was a wreck. Not a dish was washed. The floors were a tumble of dirty laundry, trash, and boxes crammed with junk. She did not cook. She did nothing but sit on her kitchen chair and read.

 

Until he came home.

 

"Well, well." He looked around, raised his eyebrows as he surveyed the horror, and sighed.

 

"I need your help." She sighed, so deeply. "The house..."

 

He took off his coat. Picked up a broom. "I will take care of it."

 

And yet, after he picked up the house and cooked dinner, he still seemed unhappy.

 

"Are you happy, now?" She worried the hem of her apron.

 

He stopped washing the dishes. And smiled. "You were very sweet to do this."

 

"But you're not happy. I can see that look. That frown you try to hide."

 

"I suppose so." He looked out the window. Peered through her herbs and watched the sun set. "She was not just a bad housekeeper, you see. She had a terrible temper and took it out on anything that crossed her path during a tantrum. Even me." He laughed.

 

"Oh, dear."

 

"She kept throwing plates at me. Especially when I came home from work."

 

The next night she did exactly this. As she hollered at him for leaving her home alone all day.

 

He simply ducked as he hung his jacket. Caught a saucer as he went to the kitchen. Then her wrist as he met her. She was about to throw a knife.

 

"A little excessive." He kissed her cheek.

 

"You wouldn't get hurt."

 

"Still." He took it out of her hand. Carefully placed it on the table. "Is that chicken pot pie?"

 

"Yes."

 

He let her go. "I am so hungry. Thank you."

 

"You're still..." She pulled the pie from the oven with her red oven mitts. The ones he got her for Christmas.

 

"Unhappy? Yaone, I am beginning to regret telling you about this."

 

She cut him a piece. Laid it on a surviving plate and placed a fork next to it. "I realize this earnest approach is a little disconcerning. Please forgive my clumsy attempts. But I must make you happy."

 

He took the plate. "Yaone..."

 

"Tell me more. Tell me other things about her. Was she needy in bed? Selfish?"

 

He smiled. "Would it make you happy to hear me add that she was petty and jealous, too?"

 

Her face went red. She caught her breath and then... she smiled, too. "It would."

 

He took her arm. "Yaone, my dear. What a terribly petty thing to say."

 

"What are you going to do about it?"

 

He swept her up. Took her to the bedroom and threw her on the mattress. "Show you how happy that just made me."

 

"Oh, Hakkai! You're so twisted..."

 

He took off his shirt, carefully folded it and placed it on the night stand. "And so you find out for yourself."

 


End file.
